Prominent Chinese journalist Gao Yu ‘criminally detained’

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese state news agency Xinhua has reported that Chinese journalist Gao Yu has been “criminally detained” just weeks ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown for allegedly leaking state secrets to a foreign news site.

The report late Wednesday said the 70-year-old journalist was detained April 24, with the authorities seizing evidence at her Beijing home. A well-known government critic who was imprisoned after the 1989 crackdown, she had been reported missing since April 26. The report said Gao had confessed to the misdeeds.

On Tuesday, Chinese authorities detained well-known rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang and several other people in an apparent bid to deter activists from marking the anniversary of the military suppression of pro-democracy protesters. Pu’s associate Qu Zhenhong said the lawyer was detained Tuesday morning.